What happens when we never define enough? For many of us, it becomes pressure. always pushing us toward more, yet never delivering the peace it promises. At FaithFi, we want to help believers discover true contentment. That's why, for a limited time, when you become a FaithPhi partner, you'll receive our first ever Faith Phi field guide, How Much Money is Enough, an interactive resource designed to help you define enough through biblical wisdom.
Your gift of $35 a month or $400 a year helps sustain a ministry equipping believers every day through radio, digital tools, and trusted biblical resources. Become a Faith Phi partner and help point hearts toward what truly lasts. To become a partner, visit faithfi.com/slash give. That's faithfi.com/slash give. Pastor Rick Warren once said, the way you store up treasure in heaven is by investing in getting people there.
Hi, I'm Rob West. That's a powerful statement and it raises an important question. What does it really mean to store up treasure in heaven? Today we'll explore what the Bible really means when it talks about eternal rewards and how that truth can reshape how we steward our time, money, and influence. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.
This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Well, in Matthew 6, 20, Jesus says, Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. That word treasure is striking. In Greek, the word is thesauros, the same root from which we get the word treasury. It describes something stored safely for the future. Jesus isn't describing a spiritual savings account filled with gold and silver.
Instead, he's pointing to the lasting fruit of a life lived in alignment with God's kingdom. That's why he doesn't say don't have treasure, but rather store your treasure in heaven. What we invest in God's purposes today carries eternal significance.
Now, that raises an important question: what exactly are eternal rewards?
Well, in 1 Timothy 6, 18 and 19, Paul writes, They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Notice that phrase, that which is truly life. The reward isn't merely something we receive later, it's the fullness of life that comes from walking in step with Christ now and forever. The early church understood this well. The theologian Augustine once wrote in his work The City of God: God Himself, who is the author of virtue, shall there be its reward.
For as there is nothing greater or better, He has promised Himself. In other words, the greatest reward of eternity is not something we possess, but someone we know. That's the heart of eternal rewards, deeper fellowship with God, fuller participation in His kingdom, and the joy of seeing His work unfold through our lives. And this is where our finances come in. Jesus often connected money with eternal perspective because money reveals what we value.
When we give generously, serve faithfully, and steward wisely, we're investing in something that lasts beyond the temporary. Think about the parable in Luke 16, where Jesus tells his followers: if then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? In other words, how we manage earthly resources reflects whether our hearts are ready for something far greater. Every act of generosity, every decision to trust God rather than money, every sacrifice made for his kingdom becomes part of a story that continues into eternity. And here's the grace in all of it.
God's rewards are never wages, they're gifts. The Bible teaches that He rewards His people not because we've earned it, but because He is generous. In His grace, God chooses to reward the very faithfulness He produces in us. This reveals something truly beautiful about our Father. No matter what we have or don't have in this world, because we belong to Him, He promises to entrust us with the true riches of His kingdom.
That's what it means to store up treasure in heaven. Instead of investing everything in what's temporary, we place our lives, our resources, and our trust into the hands of the One who is the very source of heaven and earth. It's not about building a spiritual portfolio, it's about orienting our hearts toward God Himself. Life with God has never been about accumulating more. It has always been about knowing Him, trusting Him, and sharing in His purposes.
Which means the real question isn't, what do I get in heaven? The better question is, how can I live today in light of eternity? Because one day, every faithful steward will hear the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 25, 21. Words that will fill every believer's heart with complete awe and fulfillment.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. If you've ever wondered how to live with that kind of eternal perspective day to day, I walk through it in my new devotional, Our Ultimate Treasure, a 21-day journey to faithful stewardship. It's designed to help you view every part of your financial life, saving, giving, planning, and investing through the lens of eternity as you learn to treasure Christ above all else. You can pick up your copy today or place a bulk order for your church or small group at faithfi.com slash shop.
That's faithfi.com/slash shop. Back with your questions after this: 800-525-7000. Stick around. I was in ministry full time and I was always looking for a way to integrate my faith with this new industry around money and finances. This is Mark.
He is a Certified Kingdom Advisor. As a CKA, one of the best things I offer my clients is trust in knowing that they're working with a professional that understands their values. And I think in all of the different challenges that clients go through, if we can go back to trusting in God, then he'll make the path straight. You can find an advisor like Mark at findacka.com. Faith in Finance is thankful for support from The Good Investor, a book by Robin John.
In his book, Robin shares his journey from an immigrant child struggling in school to co-founder and CEO of Eventide Asset Management, a faith-based investment firm. This Faith and Work memoir seeks to inspire readers to view their work and investments as opportunities to honor God and bring blessing to the world. More information is available at goodinvestor.com. That's goodinvestor.com. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance.
Between now and the end of May, we're looking for another 200 folks to join us as partners here at Faith Phi. What is a partner?
Well, as a listener-supported ministry, partners are those folks that are in the boat with us, helping us reach more people to manage God's money God's way. We're so thankful for them and their work to support the ministry. And as a way of saying thanks, we would send you as a partner not only a quarterly ministry update on all the new things we're working on and stories of impact, but also any new resource we create. Four editions of our magazine, Faithful Steward, all of our new studies, devotionals, and our brand new field guides, where we tackle one specific question that we know Christians think about related to their faith and their money and help you think about it through a biblical lens, work through it with practical application worksheets, and tell you stories about others. Who have gone before you?
We call them field guides. We're tackling the first question: how much is enough? this summer. And then next fall, we'll come out with our second field guide on how do you prepare the next steward. If you'd like to know more about becoming a partner and you love the ministry, we'd invite you to head to faithfi.com/slash give.
That's faithfi.com/slash give. All right, to the phones we go. Let's go over to Georgia. Diane, how can I help? Yes.
First, praise be to God for your ministry and helping us all to be a good steward. My question is concerning an individual retirement account. I have received several letters For that, that's inactive from different agencies that would help me cash them, but of course, with the fee.
However, I have the original customer receipt. My question for you, sir. It's how's the best way for me to Cash this. Um and transfer it to either another traditional or can I transfer it to a Roth? And the maturation date on this is 1990.
So it is. Cold.
So what is your recommendation, sir? Yeah.
So it may have been turned over to the state as unclaimed property due to inactivity. Did they say what steps have been taken? On the notifications, there's no steps that have been taken so far. I'm to notify them and let them help me cash this, but of course, with the fee. Got it.
Yeah.
So you want to go ahead and do that because you don't want to have this transferred out often to the state treasurer, and then you'd have to go through unclaimed property to get it back. You want to try to avoid cashing it out because not only is there a fee, it's going to all become taxable to you. And if you're under 59 and a half, there's going to be a penalty. But in either case, it's going to be a taxable event when you take it out.
So when you move it, rather than cash it out. Through a direct transfer, that way you can reclaim the funds. You'd open a new IRA at perhaps a brokerage firm like Fidelity or Schwab, and then you'd do a trustee-to-trustee transfer from where it is now, whatever custodian has contacted you, to the new custodian where you'd open your new IRA. Is it a traditional IRA currently? I'm not sure, sir, because this was um purchased in nineteen eighty seven.
Okay. And the online certificate for customer receipt just has an individual retirement account. And, um It has regular little X's over regular.
Okay, got it. Yeah, so it's probably a traditional IRA, which means it's pre-tax.
So when you put the money in back in 1990, you got a current year tax deduction for the money. And so you're going to want to open a new IRA at either an institution of your choosing, unless you already have an advisor who's managing other investments for you. Do you? Mm-hmm. No, sir.
Okay, so I would go to either Fidelity or Schwab. Either would be great. They both get high ratings on customer service. They're very low cost. You'd open an IRA.
It's easy to do on their website. It'll take you five minutes. And you're going to want to open a traditional IRA. And once you do that, you're going to get an account number. And then you would contact the current custodian that sent you the letter and say that you want to do a direct rollover or a trustee-to-trustee transfer.
You'll provide them the new name of the institution that you've opened the account at, the account number, and then they'll transfer it over.
Now, once it comes into the new IRA, you can then invest it. You could also add money to it. And you could put in up to $7,500 for this year. And then if you're over $50,000, you could put in an extra $1,100 up to $8,600. But that would allow you to keep this money invested.
And then you just have to pick a high-quality mutual fund or ETF. And if you don't know which one to pick, Our friends at soundmindinvesting.org could help you. But the bottom line is, I'd get it out of there, get it into an IRA.
Now, if you wanted to do a conversion to a Roth IRA, you could. You would create a taxable event because you'd be going ahead and paying the tax now for the benefit of letting that money grow tax-free in the future. You may or may not decide to do that. A lot of that's going to come down to do you have the money to pay the tax now without taking anything out of the account? If so, that's not a bad idea.
I like the Roth IRA a lot. If not, I'd probably just leave it in the traditional and get it invested.
Okay. Even though we're off at I'm sixty five or sixty six, excuse me.
Okay. Yeah, I mean it's not I mean, the the real sweet spot of the Roth is when you got a long time for it to grow. And I think in this case, it's probably if you're no longer working, are you fully retired? Um no, sir.
Okay. So if you're still working, I wouldn't convert this to a Roth this year because it's just going to add more taxable income and probably in a higher bracket. Perhaps once you retire, that might be the time, especially if you haven't started Social Security yet, that might be the time to convert it because then it could grow tax-free. You'd keep it invested. You don't have required minimums down the road at 73.
But if all you did was move it from where it is now and kept it in a traditional IRA and got it invested, that would be a win because the status you have right now within activity is one that's going to cause them to essentially transfer it out to unclaimed property. And we don't want that to happen. No, sir.
Yeah.
Thank you, Connie, for your help today. All right. Absolutely, Diane. Call anytime. To Indiana, Rob, go ahead.
The question I've got, I'm actually calling for my daughter. She's got a two year old daughter, my grandbaby, and they've got one thousand dollars they're looking to set aside approximately every year you know, until she gets, you know, whatever, eighteen, twenty years old and I'm just trying to help her make a wise decision on where to put the money to work. And was hoping you can Offer a place to invest it and how to set it up because I know going forward. Um you like When they were younger, I got them five twenty-nines, but just in case, let's just say she doesn't go to College, you know, I know you got to be careful with, you know, let's just say putting the money in the child's name. And I think they're just trying to get the money working for them.
But, you know, just knowing, I know you've got, I think, a son in college now, right? And just trying to make the wisest choice. I would probably say the college things. Um, you know, at this point, I don't think is, you know, I know they're pretty sure not doing 529, but any input. Yeah, happy to.
Here's what I would do: if they don't want to have this earmarked for college, and I can certainly understand why they don't, I would want to keep it in their name, and that way they could choose when to hand it off to their daughter when she's spiritually and financially ready for it, rather than a custodial account where she automatically gets it at 18.
So I'd tell them to go to the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, open a joint account in their name, husband and wife. They would, in their minds, earmarket for their daughter, but it's not a custodial account. And then they could put in the thousand a month and get it invested. Hang on the line, I'll give you a bit more detail. Hey, much more to come just around the corner.
We're just getting cranked up here. We still have a whole nother segment left and some great calls coming up just around the corner. We'll get to those here right after this break. If you want to check out prior broadcasts or download the FaithFi app, do that on our website, faithfy.com. We'll be right back.
If budgeting feels like a second job, the new Faith Phi Pro was built just for you. It learns your spending patterns, categorizes your transactions, and helps you build a budget based on your real life. Plus, scripture readings and biblical devotionals help you manage God's money God's way. Try FaithPhi Pro free for 30 days and lock in 25% off a pro subscription. Download the FaithPhy app from your app store or at faith5.com/slash app.
That's faithfi.com/slash app. Is health insurance eating up your budget for 2026? If you're looking for ways to better steward your finances, consider this. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a health insurance alternative at half the cost. As a ministry, CHM allows you to share the burden of medical bills with other believers while also saving you money.
Join CHM today and ditch traditional health insurance by visiting. Visiting chministries.org slash faith fi. That's chministries.org slash faithfi. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Let's get right back to the phones to Texas.
Lissette, thanks for calling. How can I help? Yes, I have a debt of about $4,300. And I also owe $4,000. And I was thinking if I should get a balance transfer in a new card or have a loan from our 401k.
Yeah.
You know, I'm not a big fan of either of those, even though they're both options.
So, the nice part about the 401k loan is you're just paying that back with interest to yourself and no one else.
However, I don't want that money to come out of there because I want it to stay in there so it can keep growing for you and for you to use down the road when you retire. And if we pull it out and use it to pay off debt, it's not in there and it's not growing. And secondly, if you were to separate from your employer, then it would become a taxable distribution at that point.
So, that's the first issue that would cause me not to have you take out a 401k loan. With regard to the balance transfer, it's kind of a quick fix. I mean, you know, is it effective to get that interest rate down to zero? It can be. The problem is, it's kind of a trap where, you know, you get in the cycle of balance transfers, which keep in mind, every time you do one of those transfers, you typically have to pay a, you know, a 2% or 3% fee.
So, if you've got $4,000 in credit card, Card debt. I mean, you could pay, you know, $120 right up front just for the privilege of transferring that balance. And then, if you have to do that, you know, every year, that could add up.
So, what would I do instead?
Well, you've probably, if you listen to the program, heard me talk about our friends at Christian Credit Counselors. If you have $4,000 or more, and that happens to be right where you're at, that's my preferred way to get out of debt because it's going to start with your budget and make sure you can afford the payment and help you get that budget situated, which, by the way, is a better long-term fix for this because the opportunity for you to get out of debt and stay out of debt is going to hinge on your ability to live within your means moving forward.
Now, it doesn't mean you won't have something that comes out of left field that you just don't have the savings for. That could happen. But if we can get you out of debt, get an emergency fund built up of three to six months' expenses and have you living on a budget, the goal would be. That you never go back into credit card debt again. And some of these quick fixes, like the balance transfer or the 401k loan, often fail to get you to change the behavior that ultimately led to the debt in the first place.
Now, with debt management, what's going to happen is the credit card interest rate is going to be dropped, and you would make one monthly payment through the credit counseling agency, and they would pass it on to your creditor. And the combination of that lower interest rate would allow you to pay it off 80% faster on average.
So, if I were you, what I would do is head to christiancreditcounselors.org and let them get you set up in that program.
Okay. Well, thank you so much. That's answered. And I Fine CD that quick. Awesome.
Glad to hear it. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for calling today. May the Lord bless you. We appreciate you being on the program today.
You know, so many people find themselves in this position. I mean, we are at record levels of credit card debt now in this nation: 1.3 trillion with a T owed. And so a lot of folks wondering, how in the world do I get out from under this? This is my preferred way, debt management, not debt consolidation with a new loan, certainly not debt settlement where you stop paying and try to negotiate it down. All right, lines are open.
I've got room for maybe one more: 800, 525, 7,000. You can call right now. Let's go to Chicago. Evan, how can I help?
So my question is essentially, I have some margin in my budget. It's about $1,000 a month. I already have a maxed out emergency fund. already has paid off all consumer debt except the home, So the question is, should I increase my investing? increase my giving or pay off the home faster.
That's essentially what I'm wrestling with. Yeah, I love it. And you said you have about a thousand a month extra. Is that right? About, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, this is a great place to be, Evan. First of all, I mean, well done. That you are living well within your means, that you've paid off all your consumer debt except the mortgage, and that you have a desire to give more. And I think that's awesome. Are you already giving, you know, proportionately right off the top?
So, this would be additional giving? Is that what you're thinking? Yes. So I already do the ten percent tithe. Um, but I don't, I and I have a little bit extra I give each month, just a hundred dollars extra, but.
That's kind of it feels like it's preplanned. It doesn't feel like it's out of the generosity. Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that's great. And what are you already doing in your in terms of long-term savings and investments for retirement? Yeah, I am a school teacher, so I have a pension. But then on top of that, I saved 10% into a 457B plan.
So it's kind of just those two routes of. But that's great because when you put the pension alongside the 10% that you're doing into the 457B, if you do that throughout your life, you're going to be in pretty good shape, which I love. And in terms of the mortgage, what is that interest rate? Right now, it's a 6% interest rate. We just closed on it like a month ago.
Got it. Okay, very good. And you have at least 20% equity? No, we do not. We got about 5% equity.
Okay. So you're paying PMI private mortgage insurance on top of the 6% interest? Yeah, but it it's only like $40 a month. I don't know if that's cheap for PMI, it just feels very manageable. Yeah.
What is the uh balance on the mortgage? 239.
Okay. Yeah.
I mean, so that's pretty inexpensive. I mean, it's still $600 a year that you would rather not spend if you didn't have to, but, you know, it's pretty reasonable just given the size of the mortgage.
So, you know, again, I think you're in a great spot. I mean, I love the fact that you're giving proportionately right up front. I think the extent to which, you know, you all are sensing, hey, we'd love to do more. I'd love for you to lean into that and align your money with God's priorities and really pray through, Lord, what would you have us to do? What does it look like for us to give faithfully and joyfully first?
And the extent to which we want to kind of feel our giving and move not from a pressure situation like God expects something to you, but a privilege to recognize that I have the ability as an overflow of God's grace that's been extended to me. It's a privilege to be able to participate in God's activities. I'd lean into that and really think about what that might look like. In fact, I'm going to send you a copy of Randy Alcorn's classic The Treasure Principle for you and your. Wife to read through, I think that'll be an encouragement to you.
So, I don't think you can ever go wrong there. And I would really just decide that you're going to commit a period of time to ask the Lord, what does it look like for us to give faithfully right now? Beyond that, I think you are already saving pretty significantly. And so, I think that's a great thing. And the idea that you would get a guaranteed 6% on your mortgage is excellent.
And that's going to give you greater long-term freedom down the road and free up $500 a year that you're not having to spend on PMI, which is not going to do anything for you.
So, I think the balance of what's left after you increase your giving, I would split between additional investments and prepaying that mortgage, which I think would be a great option. And then, if you have other medium or short-term goals that come up along the way, we can address them as they come up. I hope that helps. Stay on the line. We'll send you the treasure principle.
Well, folks, thanks for being along with us today. Big thanks to my team. Today. We're grateful for Sandy and Jim and Devin. Couldn't do it without them.
Have a wonderful weekend, and we'll see you next week. Lord bless you. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFy and listeners like you.
